The Eclectic Life of David Tang

Sir David Tang, the Anglophile Hong Kong Chinese gentleman...

A few weeks ago my friend sent me a link from The Times newspaper saying that Hong Kong-born entrepreneur David Tang wanted to have one last dinner party with friends at The Dorchester because doctors didn't give him more than a month or two to live.

I found it hard to believe -- was he ill? I didn't know he had liver cancer. But he won't be able to see his friends one last time -- he died today at the age of 63.

My first and only encounter with him was in my early 20s and went to see him in his Shanghai Tang boutique that was on Pedder Street. At the time I had only started working about a year or so and so I didn't have much money to spend, let alone on clothes. At Ladies Market I bought what I thought was a cute white satin short skirt with frog buttons on it.

The dining room in China Club in the Bank of China building

When he saw me he immediately chastised me for wearing satin -- and he emphasized it in his posh British accent -- and pointed out that it wasn't silk.

Well excuuuuuse me! At the time I couldn't afford anything in his shop and honestly thought the neon pink Mandarin collar silk jackets were outrageous (even though they were all the rage with expats).

He's had an interesting life to say the least. He was the grandson of Tang Shiu-kin, a well known philanthropist, but David Tang didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. As he tells it, his grandfather didn't like his first concubine, which meant he didn't like Tang's father and him.

"All of us were cast out of the family home and left to fend for ourselves on a very modest income that my grandfather reluctantly provided," he explained in one of his Financial Times columns.

Shanghai Tang when it was at Pedder Building in Central

When he went to England to join his parents and attend boarding school in 1965, Tang didn't know a word of English. And yet he soon began reading Shakespeare plays and appreciated classical music -- and even mastered the piano too.

He studied philosophy and logistics at King's College, and later studied law at Cambridge with a master's degree.

After teaching English literature and philosophy at Peking University from 1983-84, he practiced law at his grandfather's law firm as well as a smattering of others in Hong Kong.

Guess law wasn't his thing, but fashion and decor instead. In 1991 he and philanthropist Tsui Tsin-tong opened China Club in the Bank of China building. One always feels privileged to come here each time, an antique space choc full of Chinese paintings, sculptures and photographs, and tons of books on the bookshelves.

Then three years later he started Shanghai Tang which as I mentioned earlier became a big hit with its quirky Chinese designs that were fun and colourful, and he had qipao tailors working on site.

Refined (and expensive) homeware at Tang Tang Tang Tang

I also remember watching Anita Yuen and Eric Tsang filming He's a Woman, She's a Man in Shanghai Tang. They were literally working out the scene as they filmed it...

But I digress. Luxury group Richemont had a controlling stake in Shanghai Tang in 1998 and full ownership of it in 2008, and it was just sold again in June to an Italian entrepreneur.

And then in 2013 he opened Tang Tang Tang Tang -- a homeware boutique in The Pawn building on Johnston Road. But the prices were so expensive that it hardly attracted much business. I did buy a pair of silver salt and pepper shakers shaped like fortune cookies for my brother and sister-in-law though...

Tang reappeared again -- this time through interior design with Howard's Gourmet with its quintessential English look, and also China Tang, his restaurant collaborations with Peter Lam Kin-ngok.

Very English decor in Howard's Gourmet in Central

Last year Tang made a passionate speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club criticizing then Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policy address and how the administration seriously faulted in its handling of the Occupy protests in 2014.

Why did he only speak out then?

But perhaps we should thank him for at least speaking out for us.

Thank you for your business acumen, your creativity, your wit and your love of Hong Kong. 

Eat Like a Gourmand

Fine Chinese dining in a very classic English environment

Howard's Gourmet opened in Central last November and it has generated positive and negative buzz. While many rave about the food, there are critics who scoff at the high prices for the set lunch and dinner menus. But I have been entranced by the dishes here, and find them innovative and above all, delicious.

Stewed sea cucumber was the highlight of the meal

Howard Cai is the restaurateur behind it, having opened Howard's Gourmet in Guangzhou for 10 years. He quit his job as a civil servant and studied in the United States. While he was there he didn't like the food he ate in restaurants and began cooking his own.

For him the temperature of the food is very important and even calculates the amount of time it would take for the dish to go from the kitchen to the diners' table, because the food is still technically cooking on the way there.

Not only that, Cai tries to create interesting flavours with a dish. He doesn't want to cook, say abalone in the typical Chinese way; he decides how he wants the ingredient to taste and the figures out how it should be cooked, mainly to bring out the natural flavours and not hide it under heavy sauces.

Deep-fried crab meat cake with seaweed was creative

The end result is modern Chinese cuisine that has a more scientific basis, and also rooted in traditional culture in terms of the quality of the ingredients and how to balance them in a dish.

I took my mom and aunt to try the set lunch menu because they would not be able to taste anything like this in Vancouver.

We started with small appetizers in small bowls. One was fish cakes sliced into mini diamond shapes with also miniaturized beans, the other mountain yam with wood ear fungus, and a small cup of full-flavoured vegetable broth .

Delicate simmered seasonal vegetables in bouillon

Next came two relatively small slices of mackerel cooked and marinated Chiu Chow style with a dab of a miso sauce that was very refreshing and delicate.

Stewed sea cucumber was next and was the highlight of the meal. It was braised for such a long time that the pieces practically melted in the mouth they were so smooth. The thick broth they came in was fantastic and full of flavour too that we finished it to the last drop.

An intriguing dish came next -- deep-fried crab meat cake with seaweed. Perhaps it was meant to emulate home-style steamed meat cakes, but with a crunchy outer layer, in this case made from seaweed. The result was a slight crunch and soft on the inside, with a hint of crab taste in the middle. Again the broth here was cleaned up.

The slice of braised pork belly was good, though we preferred the accompanying large piece of bitter melon, while simmered golgi berry leaves in bouillon were so delicate and had subtle flavours from the garlic.

Homemade noodles are in this hot and sour soup

A signature dish is the hot and sour noodles, and we were forewarned they could be spicy. The noodles are homemade and have a bouncy texture, while the sauce is a slow-burn spicy with a strong sour taste. The spiciness is such that it entices diners to whet their appetites and eat more.

Finally to balance things out, dessert was almond soup with lotus seeds, but not what one would expect. Instead they were cooked to the point of melting into a kind of jelly that we found at the bottom of the bowl.

At the end of the meal I was just full, and this is the point Cai wants his diners to be at -- not too full and their taste buds sated.

It was such an elegant treat to be eating such a fine meal in a traditional English-style surroundings designed by David Tang. Who knew he could be such a great interior decorator?

For dessert, almond soup with lotus seeds that are like jelly

Howard's Gourmet

5/F, CCB Tower

3 Connaught Road Central

Central
2115 3388

howardsgourmet.com